


of wish fulfillment

by Illusioneery (Arkee)



Series: The Lucky Sevens: A Ficlet Collection [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: 777 for 7/7, M/M, Sad Fluff, Tanabata, cherophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25137976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkee/pseuds/Illusioneery
Summary: At a festival in Wutai, Cloud meets a familiar someone again.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Series: The Lucky Sevens: A Ficlet Collection [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/800844
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	of wish fulfillment

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of a sequel to a [very old fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3872344) but it can be read on its own as well!
> 
> Happy 7/7, everyone! I hope you enjoy this one.

He was told it would be fun.

Barret gave him the paper while Tifa smiled at him and explained, “You don’t have to write in anything if you don’t want to. But the kids would be happy, you know?”

_They like you, they want you to participate._

It was the kind of thing Cloud couldn’t say no to or reveal that, really, he wasn’t interested in the clothes, the food, the beautiful sights of Wutai or the happiness of the children in regards to his being there. It was still a _wishing_ festival. There was a reason why he didn’t do wishes, no matter how little. The things he longed for, the people he longed to have around… The Planet didn’t grant him those things; it only took, time and time again, all empty beds and holes he couldn’t fill ever again.

(At best, it would be a black feather atop his pillow, to remind him of all that could’ve been.)

So he said, “Fine, I’ll think about it.” And he couldn’t help but smile a little at the way his friends rejoiced at that. He really had promised to do better and to be around more and they seemed to thirst for every drop of that promise that Cloud was trying to fulfill. A little drop at a time.

“Don’t make me regret it,” he joked.

Though, to be honest about it, he already did. Things like that… they would only have his friends wishing for more of him, for the things he couldn’t give, things that even Vincent tried to give those days. It would tempt him to wish again, when he just _couldn’t._

Maybe… just _maybe,_ he was glad that the trip to Wutai left him motion sick; a sharp reminder that he was pushing his luck, that he was a lone wolf of empty beds who didn’t gaze at the abyss much if he could help it.

Probably an extra curse in his cursed existence for writing a wish down on that piece of paper and lying to Hel and back about it. One he knew, for the past couple years at least, that would never, ever be fulfilled, no matter whether or not Gaia wished to give it to him in a wrecked way; a gift with a catch.

Cloud thought about tearing it apart and tossing it in a bin, but deep down, he was just a selfish bastard who didn’t do things in half-measures, even if those were things that brought him nothing but ruin.

He tiptoed to hang his wish on a higher branch of the tree, then picked little Marlene up so she could hang hers as well. She had drawn a flower on the envelope protecting it and Cloud had a vague feeling about who she was sending that wish to, though he didn’t dare mention the name aloud. Bad things tended to happen when it was him who did so, in a way or another.

The tree filled up fast as he waited for the others to finish. And he didn’t know if it was the distraction of the crowd or the distraction from their group having to watch over the kids, but Cloud was sure that they missed the stranger who came to hang his own wish a little higher than Cloud had hung his.

He told himself it couldn’t be; with a face covered by a wolf mask, Cloud could only assume by the hair and body type and those… weren’t definitive giveaways. In the last few years, just as the fear died down, many people felt courageous enough to dye their hair silver. There were many guys out there being active enough to have a body like that. Many people who were much taller than Cloud, considering his stature was just average.

And yet, _and yet!_

He committed the foolish mistake of _hoping,_ even if for a second, that it was his mind trying to shut down a possibility and that the stranger wasn’t as much of a _stranger_ as he should be. Cloud followed and cursed himself on the way as he did so; silently telling his legs to change course in case he was perceived in any way and stopping a few meters away when the stranger-not-stranger finally did, away from everyone.

“What did you wish for, _Cloud?”_ Sephiroth asked and took off the mask at last.

“...You,” he simply confessed.

“Hn, touching. And lucky.”

“Why?”

“My wish overrides your bad luck of losing what you wish for,” Sephiroth said, but didn’t specify what he wished for any further.

And just for once, Cloud finally had his wish within his grasp.


End file.
